


Fantasies

by Uniasus



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Reveal, Romance, Valentine's Day, hunting for Ladybug, post-Cupid's Episode, whatever the translated title of that is, with an angsty ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 17:45:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5674939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uniasus/pseuds/Uniasus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>None of his fantasies have ever come true.</p>
<p>He still dreams them anyway.</p>
<p>But of all the ones he's constructed, this is the one he wanted to be true the most. That Ladybug knows his identity and is interested in him so much she dug through his discarded scribblings and sent him a Valentine’s Day poem so mirrored to his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fantasies

Adrien is, at heart, a romantic. He couldn't help it, he lives in Paris, a city that plays a part in so many fantasies. Not to mention all the personal fantasies he constructed – fake personalities for each photo shoot and the dreams of his boyhood of playing catch with his father or his mother reappearing on the front doorstep.

None of his fantasies have ever come true.

He still dreams them anyway.

But of all the ones he's constructed, this is the one he wanted to be true the most. That Ladybug knows his identity and is interested in him so much she dug through his discarded scribblings and sent him a Valentine’s Day poem so mirrored to his own.

The card isn't signed, there's no _proof_ it's from her and Plagg points that out several times, but he knows it's from her. Wants it to be from her. So it is.

He rips the card down the seam, keeping the side with her poem, and carefully folds it. It's heavy in his hands, cardstock he thinks, but it slides so well into the pocket of his jeans. This way, Ladybug's love will always be with him.

And that's when it hits him.

She said she'd be his Valentine. She has feelings after all.

* * *

“Thank you,” he tells her the next day. It's thanks for everything, for taking care of the akuma yesterday, for not taking his harsh words to heart, for sending him the card. “How did you know where I live?”

Ladybug freezes, her yo-yo wrapping around a neighboring gutter, but she doesn't swing down on the cable. She turns to him. Frowning.

“Chat, I don't know where you live.”

“But I got your poem.”

There's a million questions in his head, but the most pressing have him pull out the folded card from a pocket.

This is the fantasy, the romantic story he desperately wishes won't crumble when faced with reality. But he knows it probably will.

Her eyes flick to the red heart and she stiffens. His gaze rises to her face and he catches a quick pass of emotions – shock, worry, fear, confusion, disappointment, and finally a small smile that's both sad and blank at once. None of those matter though. What matters to Chat is the first, the very first reaction to the card she had had.

Familiarity. 

Ladybug didn't act on that though. She didn't want him to know the card was from her. Which meant....he wasn't sure. Something about keeping their identities a secret though.

“Can I read it?”

He passes the poem over and she looks briefly at it. Not long enough to read, but she still passes it back with a wink. “She sounds like a great girl, and willing to be yours. Better stop flirting with me, kitty. She'll be jealous.”

She knows the poem, but she won't say that.

* * *

He figures out the reason why later. 

The poem had been written and tossed aside by Adrien, not Chat Noir. And she had to have found his crumpled ball of a terrible poem as her civilian identity, not Ladybug.

She had sent the card as a civilian, it had arrived by mail, and hadn't signed it to protect her identity. But it had come from her. He knows that.

It had come from her civilian side. Her civilian side had seen him write it, seen him toss it.

Ladybug went to his school.

He couldn't wait for the next morning.

* * *

He kept a running list of every female who seemed to pay more attention to him than normal. He put stars next to the names who physically resembled Ladybug, but he knew Miraculous could change a person's appearance. His own hair changed styles just a tad and his pupils became an oval even as the white of his eyes turned green. Ladybug's bright blue eyes might not be hers, they might be brown. She might not normally wear her hair in pigtails.

Juleka received more looks that day from him then he had probably given her all year.

The teachers' names went on his list, as did half the girls in the class. But it was when he absently noticed a pair of girls from a different class walk down the hallway, peering into the room, did he realize Ladybug might not be able to watch him all the time. Schedules only allowed fleeting glances and her seeing his poem was just a chance of luck.

Well, she is Ladybug. She is always lucky. Adrien just has to devise a way for her to use it.

* * *

He tries everything.

He drops a comp card with a new photo on it. Chloe picks it up and squeals. 

He leaves behind a schedule of his next three photoshoots, but the only people who show up are Alya and Marinette which isn't unusual.

He arranges for a ticket to his next show to drop under his desk, but it's never used.

He obviously leaves a stuffed Ladybug sitting on the bench in front of his locker during fencing, My Lady in gold on it's belly. No one takes it. 

He doodles, badly, images of her and him, cats and bugs, with questions in the margin. Innocent questions, like favorite food or favorite band. They go unanswered.

Worse, Ladybug never gives any hint during their patrols that she has noticed any of this.

* * *

He knows she's in the school, and not a janitor because they're all male, so he devises a different strategy.

Who is a) a student or student teacher that b) seems to disappear during akuma attacks and c) oozes confidence?

The hard part is he only knows his classmates and the trials of this class. Of the others, he has no clue. So he convinces Alya to do a reporting project of gaining statements of akuma attacks from those who are peripheral witnesses. Students in the school, but not the target of akuma attacks like his tend to be, are the perfect interviewees he tells her.

He knows, like him, she's looking for Ladybug. He's hoping she finds her. 

In the mean time, he goes through his list of classmates and teacher aids. Rose is on his list, she has had so little contact with akuma, but he's not sure magic can change appearances that much. Juleka is still on his list, he doesn't know much about her, but he does know a mask can change a person. Marinette climbs up the ranks too, but the confidence issue stops it. She stands up straight for a cause or person she cares about, but it's with an angry little puff of her cheeks and on an average day her confidence ranks a 2 out of 10.

Alya's lists gives him seven more girls, ten if he takes into account how much identity hiding magic can do.

It's impossible to follow all of them, so one by one he asks them out for coffee.

Nino notices, of course. His free time is already so small his friend is going to notice if their limited time is further reduced.

“Another date, Adrien? This isn't like you. You've never gone on dates before and you're not the kind of guy to simply go out with so many girls in such a short period of time.”

“I'm looking for someone.”

“Mrs. Agreste?”

“Ha ha. Well, maybe. I really, really like her. But I only have her handwriting and a vague photo.”

“Looking for Cinderella, huh? Anything I can do to help?”

“Yeah, actually. Can you get a handwriting sample from all the student teachers, and the girls in our class?”

Nino raise an eyebrow, but in true best friend fashion doesn't ask questions. “Sure thing, man. I'll have them by the end of the week.”

* * *

Each coffee date, he tries to compare the girl before him with Ladybug. He isn't looking for an exact match, he knows transforming is more than a costume change, but he hopes there will be cues. Similar reactions to puns. Confidence. Quick thinking. A sudden stiffness, perhaps, when he calls them 'my Lady'.

Girl One talks just about herself. Girl Two is simply confused – she has no interest in Adrien other than to know why he asked her out. But she does roll her eyes at his puns. Girl Three squeals when he calls her 'my Lady' and returns it with 'my knight'. Girl Four brushes off every single one of his compliments, degrading herself, but she does get through a strategy puzzle quickly. Girl Five is a no-show, which does make her highly suspicious. Six, Six is confident and smart and pretty much perfect but she's allergic to cats and left handed which means her name is scratched off the list.

Girl Two and Four he gets handwriting samples from, Alya takes care of one from number Five, and he spends a good deal of the weekend comparing those, plus the samples Nino got him, to the Valentine's Day poem.

Four, maybe, could match. He's tried it himself, altering his handwriting, but there are always cues that something isn't natural. Ladybug's fluidity on the card means it's her genuine penmanship and his four maybes are decent matches. Situation, grip, pens, he knows they alter the autographs he gives. Poem writing logically would follow the same.

Four girls who might be Ladybug. Girl Five – the American exchange student Jennifer Johnson. Girl Two – Selah Diskin, a grade above. Ms. Mayer is the student teacher working with Mr. Astruc covering upper level math. And lastly, Marinette.

To be honest, Marinette and Ms. Mayer are long shots, but he's not going to dismiss them simply because he can't picture either of them being Ladybug. He would hate to over look her because of silly misconceptions.

Ms. Mayer, predictably, says no to getting coffee with him. His back up plan – tutoring – also fails. But he finds his answer in her uncomfortableness, in her habit of fleeing from something that makes her anxious and stressed. It's not her.

Jennifer is uppity and smiley, quick with sarcastic comments and he finds the coffee date going well. He wants, desperately for her to be Ladybug, though there is nothing definite pointing towards her. The red sweater and years of gymnastics aren't real, solid clues.

Selah, well, is still confused as to why Adrien is talking to her. They have nothing in common and Adrien realizes they have nothing near the spark of chemistry between them that he is looking for. 

Marinette, well, Marinette blushed and stammered when he asked her out for coffee, but then agreed with a high pitched noise instead of the customary 'yes'. 

He pulls all the potential Ladybug-Marinette links in his head before the 'date' – standing up to authority, quick thinking, bravery, her willingness and capability with the Evillstrator, her shared displeasure of Chloe.

When he walks into the cafe, he is frowning at himself for not paying attention to such things before. He brushes it off, seeing Marinette at a table already sipping a latte. He slides into the seat with with a grin. “Purrfect day for coffee, don't you think?”

He doesn't expect her to freeze. Doesn't expect the wide eyed look on her face. 

“I always imagined you above bad puns.”

He sputters, puns aren't bad! But then he realizes that she hasn't stuttered and grins at her, leaning forward. The girl turns pink and all words leave her.

He doesn't get a chance to get to know more about her – her parents call and she has to rush home to help with something. But Tuesday after school, they'll meet then.

* * *

He tries to get something from Ladybug too.

“My Lady, do you like poetry?”

“Not really,” she answers. “I prefer novels.”

“Not even for romance?”

“Okay. Maybe for romance.”

* * *

Chat brings a thermos to patrol – coffee prepared the way he likes it. But which he means warm sugar milk with just the faintest taste of espresso. He introduces it as coffee and Ladybug jumps on it.

“I've been needing caffeine all day, between school and work and this.” Chat mentally confirms that Ladybug is a student with a job. “I haven't gotten a lot of sleep the past couple days. I was almost going to nap instead of come out, but I couldn't leave you alone, kitty.”

Chat smiles at her chattiness, watches as she pours the liquid from the thermos to the cap. He doesn't expect her to spit it out quite that spectacularly.

“This is milk, Chat. Not coffee.”

“It's coffee to me.” He takes the thermos from her and drinks it from the opening, forgoing the cup. She wrinkles her nose.

“How do you take your coffee then? So I know next time.” Chat screws the lid back on.

“I usually order lattes, toss in two sugar packets, and sprinkle cinnamon on top.”

“Sounds like you go to cafes a lot.”

Ladybug blushes. “I don't sleep a lot, caffeine is amazing. And I like going to a cafe to just – think.”

“About me?”

She rolls her eyes. “No, Chat. About things I want to do. Or brainstorm ideas.”

“For what?”

They've done this before, skirted hobbies, but she has always thought it was too telling. Too likely to lead to a reveal.

Tonight is no different.

“Designs,” is all she says.

It doesn't really matter. He knows what to look for on the next coffee date.

* * *

Jennifer takes her coffee dark, no cream but with four packets of sugar.

Marinette....orders a latte. And asks for cinnamon on top.

He isn't to sure who stutterers, blushes, or sits there awkwardly the most.

* * *

He doesn't know how to act around her. Behind him, next to him, breathing the same air, is _Ladybug._

Because his fantasy has come true. 

Ladybug knows him, dug into the trash to find his note, and then answered it. Because she _liked_ him. He knew what those stutters and incoherent sentences meant, now that he was subject to them too. Ladybug, as Marinette, has been watching him. It's electrifying. It makes the air in the classroom heavy. He can feel her eyes on his neck, feels his t-shirt as if it's an ugly Christmas sweater.

He feels stupid for not noticing it before. 

But most of all, he feels happy.

She hasn't outwardly done anything in class. Made her affections known, yes, but she's only declared her love in secret. Like their identities are supposed to be.

Well, she ripped that mask off first. Tonight, during patrol, he'd do the same.

* * *

He greets her with a smile and hello, cool Chat as always.

“How do you do it?” he asks her after she winds up her yo-yo.

“Do what?”

“Pretend to not know me.”

She looks at him in confusion. “I like to think I know you well, Chat Noir.”

“Better then I have known you, Marinette.”

She freezes. Her whole body, all at once.

He had imagined her to smile, relieved that he had figured it out. It meant that she didn't have to pretend any more, that she hadn't been the one to breach the line she herself had drawn. He had expected her to ask what took him so long, since they were so close to each other every day.

The panic, the fear, in her eyes hadn't been in his reverie of this conversation.

No!

He can't be wrong! She takes her coffee the same way, the handwriting is similar, she looks the same, values the same, disappears the same. Marinette is the one who sent the poem, who is Ladybug.

There is no other explanation!

She isn't moving. Her fingers are twitching though, towards her yo-yo, and hastily Chat pulls out the poem. It is always in his pocket, always.

“You wrote this. You. And then sent it to me. To my house. It's okay, my Lady. I know you didn't want to reveal identities, but the cat's out of the bag now. Though you opened it months ago. And then agreed to coffee with me.”

“Adrien,” she whispers and oh it is music to his ears. He was right! It is Marinette!

“I wrote that poem as Marinette to Adrien, not as Ladybug to Chat Noir, or Marinette to Chat. I only know you are one and the same because of when you showed it to me before.”

His tail flicks. Not what he had expected, but still. This is proof of the feelings between them.

“Does it matter? I asked you to be my Valentine and you said yes.”

“No.” There's a light and Ladybug is no long Ladybug. She's Marinette, and Chat is horrified to see that she is crying.

“I thought your poem was about me, Marinette, and not Ladybug. And so I answered as such. Ladybug does not love Chat Noir. Marinette loves Adrien. And those are four separate people.”

“No. I am both, you are both.” 

This is spiraling, he doesn't like it.

“If we are both, we would have known shortly after we meet our kwamis. If we are both, we would not act so differently. What you love, Chat Noir, is a mask. You never looked at me, the real Marinette, the way you looked at Ladybug. And the only reason you do so now is because you think I am exactly like Ladybug. And that, that's the reason you asked me for coffee too, wasn't it. Not because you like me. Because you wanted to see if I was Ladybug.”

He doesn't know what to say.

“But I'm _not_ Ladybug.”

She leaves him. She climbs down the fire escape, not transforming to swing away. She goes as an ordinary human. As Marinette.

And it hurts, because all his fantasies have been wrong. Because she is right. And because now, now everything is broken.

None of his fantasies had ever come true. Why would this one?

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, not all reveals are happy. And while, I, personally, see their dual personas of facets as a whole, Marinette in this fic sees Ladybug as someone separate from her. She is the idol, the ideal, the person so unlike herself that Alya doesn't even think to put a paint suit on her. Why would Marinette swing through the city? She wouldn't. But Ladybug would.


End file.
